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Comment by mixwpl0j | Hacker News Reader

Right but, what are the odds you aren't all that healthy to begin with if you decide to swap normal sweeteners for chemicals?

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"Normal sweeteners" are, in fact, chemicals.

For example erythritol itself occurs naturally in some fruit and fermented foods, making it a "normal sweetener".

It's only present in miniscule amounts in fruit and other produce. As a sweetener it's 1000x to 10000x more concentrated, which puts it in a completely different context.

Using traditional sugar as a sweetener is well established as having negative effects, including inflammation. Many of the alternative sweeteners have a much lower glycemic index, so are thought to be healthier than ordinary sugar in that respect.

If you regularly consume ordinary sugar, you may be in the “not that healthy to begin with” category yourself.

Are you trying to justify erythritol on the basis of inflammation from sugar -- because you can't.

Stevia is a wholly suitable alternative, although its taste and dosing takes some getting used to. Good quality honey in moderation is also fine if the HbA1c stays optimal.

I wasn't trying to justify erythritol specifically, I was responding to this statement:

> "you aren't all that healthy to begin with if you decide to swap normal sweeteners for chemicals?"

I'm pointing out that there are health issues for everybody with "normal sweeteners", so choosing to substitute them doesn't imply that "you aren't all that healthy to begin with".

Plenty of "fit" products like Quest protein bars use them

https://www.samsclub.com/p/quest-protein-bar-variety-chocola...

and specifically in that high risk group, those chemicals are correlated with an even higher rate of cardiovascular issues than baseline

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-023-01504-6

“Normal” sweeteners are also chemicals.

Probably a significant majority of Americans use sugar substitutes.

Of course, a significant majority of Americans aren't all that healthy - I guess I'm not sure what your point is.

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